1 . Feeling anxious? Try smiling or doing a good deed to get rid of it.

Taitz, a clinical psychologist, published a new book Stress Resets: How to Soothe (缓和) Your Body and Mind in Minutes.     1    . Here are a few of our favorites.

Name that emotion. You feel overwhelmed with negative emotions and you’re not sure why you feel this way.     2    . Maybe you’re feeling depressed and you’re at a 3 on a 0 to 5 scale. When you’re able to observe your emotion, this can loosen your sadness, anger or stress, says Taitz.

    3    . There’s been an upsetting event and now you think everything is terrible. Grab a pen and paper and make a list of what you care most about: health, friendships, career, hobbies, family. Assign each item a percentage and then draw each section in a pie chart. The image should be an instant reminder that “there are a lot of other things that matter” in your life, says Taitz.

Wear a half smile.     4    ? If so, Taitz wants you to try a half smile. Ever so slightly raise the upper corners of your lips. This will automatically reduce all that tension and relax your face muscles, communicating to your brain that everything’s OK.

Do a good deed. You feel like you have no control over your life and nothing seems to be going right because you feel powerless, says Taitz. Doing a good deed can remind you that you have the power and ability to make things better for yourself and others.     5    .

Taitz says all of these are actions like “small wheels on a big suitcase.” So pause the next time you are feeling stressed and give yourself a reset.

A．Make a pie chart of your life

B．Classify the upsetting events

C．Do you tense up your face when you’re stressed

D．Are you in a setting that is making you force a smile

E．Observe and describe the emotion and label its intensity

F．You can live by your values even if so much is out of your control

G．She shares 75 techniques to help reduce stress and anxiety in real time

2 . In order to grow and be better than before , you must learn to be emotionally intelligent. Here are some strategies to help you become emotionally mature!

You cannot change others. Everyone else is entitled to their own beliefs and opinions. It is completely normal. Keeping that in mind, it is better if you understand that you cannot change others, no matter how hard you try. Even if you try changing others and their feelings, you will only be hurting yourself in the process.     1    

People interact with us like we are mind readers sometimes.    2     This can be extremely painful. You need to communicate your needs to the other person, and they need to do the same with you. Never rely on expectations, which will only make you feel disappointed. Share your needs with your loved ones and see the positive changes. So communicate your needs.

It is necessary to take responsibility for your actions. Just like your words, you need to take full responsibility for your actions. Many people make silly excuses and don’t take responsibility for their actions. That is where they hurt others and themselves.    3     It won’t bring your self-respect down, and it will actually raise you as a person.

    4     So it is wise to avoid negative people. If you are surrounded by negative people that only bring others down, then you will always feel uncomfortable. If you are surrounded by happy people, you will always be delighted. Keep away from people who emotionally control others.    5     In order to be emotionally intelligent, you must have a supporting partner by your side.

A．You need to mind whatever you do.

B．You are known by the company you keep.

C．Just as you try to be a mind reader, others expect so.

D．The best course of action would be to change yourself.

E．Whenever you feel something like that, cut ties with them.

F．Your partner would want you to know exactly what they want.

G．If you make a mistake and affect others negatively, apologize immediately.

3 . People often say your feelings are “written all over your face” because our facial expressions are a main way we communicate emotions. Now according to a recent research led by Patty Van Cappellen of Duke University, besides our faces, our body posture (姿势) also plays a role.

In one study, Van Cappellen and her colleagues asked a group of participants to show four faceless mannequins (人体模型) in postures that represented four different emotions: dominance (支配), joy, hope and respect. The research assistants then looked at photos of the mannequins that participants had created and assessed their head positions, arm positions, and degrees of expansiveness — how much space they took up by standing straight or opening up different parts of their bodies. Then, the researchers compared these positions to the feelings they supposedly expressed.

Van Cappellen found that people viewed an expansive posture as representing dominance. But joy and respect were also represented by expansive postures, with hope involving the least expansive posture. “We’re finding that positive emotions are also marked by expansiveness — especially joy,” she says.

Besides, arm and head positions also mattered. For example, joyful postures were described by arms raised above the head, while respectful postures showed hands touching the face. Dominant postures, on the other hand, tended to show arms akimbo (双手叉腰) with the head facing forward.

To know if other people seeing the mannequins could recognize the feelings being expressed by different postures, Van Cappellen had a new group of participants look at photos of mannequins posed in many different ways. The participants found that expansive postures with arms held high represented positive emotion — with arms akimbo representing dominance and negative emotion.

Her research suggests that our body posture helps express our emotions and may help us feel certain emotions, too. This could be consequential — not just in the lab, but in real life, where it’s useful to know how we and other people are feeling in a certain situation.

1. Which emotion is most probably expressed by the least expansive posture?

A．Dominance.

B．Joy.

C．Hope.

D．Respect.

2. What does a man tend to do when he feels happy according to the text?

A．Hold his arms high.	B．Touch his face.
C．Have his arms crossed.	D．Shake his head.

3. Why did Van Cappellen have new participants look at the photos of mannequins?

A．To find why the participants showed the different feelings.

B．To know how people communicate with facial expressions.

C．To figure out what different body postures may represent.

D．To see if others can feel the same about the body postures.

4. What does the underlined word “consequential” in the last paragraph probably mean?

A．Embarrassing.

B．Important.

C．Flexible.

D．Unusual.

4 . Psychologists have defined nostalgia (怀旧) as self-conscious, socially emotional, bittersweet but mainly positive. It develops out of happy memories mixed with a longing for the past and the close relationships we had back then. Often, nostalgia involves five senses. For example, the smell of autumn leaves might spark an intense longing for your childhood home.

Almost everyone experiences nostalgia, although its object tends to vary throughout life. One survey conducted by the psychologist Krystine Irene Batcho found that younger people felt more nostalgia for pets, toys, and holidays than did older people, who felt it more strongly for music. I came of age in the 1980s, and even songs I found hopelessly annoying back then can fill me with nostalgic emotions.

As my colleague Julie Beck has written, nostalgia was originally viewed as an emotional disorder when it was first defined in the late 17th century. And, crucially, it often occurs when people are experiencing negative moods or having bad experiences. Loneliness can be a trigger, as researchers found in 2008. Another is bad weather.

However, despite its association with negative emotions, nostalgia does not cause or increase unhappiness. Rather, nostalgia is a defense response to unhappiness, one that brings relief from a negative mood. Psychologists writing in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology in 2006 found that stirring nostalgia in experiments strengthened people’s social bonds, boosted their positive feelings about themselves, and improved their mood. Similar research has shown that when people feel nostalgia, it can fire their sense of life’s meaning, lower an existential (存在主义的) reaction to the idea of death, increase spirituality, and raise optimism.

Scholars aren’t sure exactly why nostalgia works; some have inferred that recalling happy memories strengthens “valued aspects of the self” in situations when we might otherwise feel lonely or unworthy. Either way, its emotional intensity allows the joy of the past to overpower the unpleasantness of the present, a little escapism that helps get us through the bad times.

1. What do the psychologists think of nostalgia?

A．Always painful.	B．Primarily positive.
C．Seldom intense.	D．Usually unconscious.

2. Why is the author’s experience mentioned in paragraph 2?

A．To show the objects of nostalgia change with age.

B．To illustrate annoying music often leads to nostalgia.

C．To highlight the young are more likely to be nostalgic.

D．To demonstrate nostalgia has an impact on emotions.

3. In which situation may people easily feel nostalgia?

A．Attending a lively class.	B．Engaging in a family reunion.
C．Staying alone in an empty room.	D．Joining in a joyful birthday party.

4. What may be a benefit of nostalgia?

A．Maintaining self-respect.	B．Shaping personal insights.
C．Escaping from daily chaos.	D．Enhancing one’s self-worth.

5 . Have you ever started your day feeling unbeatable, only to feel worn down by the time you get into bed?     1     Try the following routines to help you sail through your day.

Practise gratitude. As you wake up, whether naturally or through your alarm, pause for a few seconds.     2     It may be a photograph of someone you love, your stylish new bedside table, or just being alive and being offered a new day. Take in the positivity and bathe in it for a few moments before continuing your day.

Exhale(呼出) your tension. If you feel anxious or stressed as you wake up, take a few minutes to do an exercise to deal with the tension. Stand tall and bring both hands to your chest. Inhale, and then exhale as you open your arms and reach down to touch the floor. This will stretch your body and oxygenate your brain.     3    

Check in with yourself. On your way to work, take a minute to “check in” with yourself. Think through your goals for the day.     4     Allow yourself to feel the positivity associated with those achievements. This visualization exercise is a simple way to build positive intention, create focus, and boost your motivation and confidence for the day.

    5     Be aware of not automatically reaching for your phone to check emails or social media as it can put you into a reactive mode rather than keeping your mind clear to choose how you want to go about in your day, and how you intend to respond instead of just reacting to events and people. The more you are able to stay centered and connected to yourself, the less likely you will stress out.

A．Brighten your day.

B．Respond, don’t react.

C．Teach the body to sense it is safe.

D．And imagine yourself completing them well.

E．Thus you process your tension feeling more positive.

F．Look around the room for something you are grateful for.

G．The daily ups and downs weaken your resolve and leave you low.

6 . “You’re as stupid as a goat.” It is a common insult (侮辱) in Nigeria. Recently a study published in Animal Behaviour suggested that’s just not true.

Alan McElligott, associate professor of animal behavior and welfare in City University of Hong Kong conducted a study in cooperation with Marianne Mason, an expert in the cognitive (认知的) abilities of goats in England.

In the experiment, a speaker was hidden to play a recording of a human saying “Hey, look over here!” with two versions—a happy one and an angry one. When the study’s 27 goat participants entered the pen one by one, the speaker would play either the positive or negative version 9 times in a row. At first the goats would respond by looking up and even looking for the source of the sound. But after a few repetitions, they would just stop paying attention. Then the speaker switched to play the opposite version three times. 71% of those disinterested goats lifted their ears and looked up in the direction of the sound. Among those newly engaged goats, some started to investigate the source of the sound longer than in the initial stages of the experiment, suggesting they noticed the emotions had changed.

The finding is a case in point of the intelligence of goats. Actually, experienced goat farmers have already known that their livestock (家畜) are discriminating listeners and respond well to kind treatment. So why do such a study if that’s already known? “By showing this ability in goats, we’re trying to move the needle in terms of opening people’s eyes to the cognitive abilities of livestocks. Our overall goal is to get people to think about animals in a different way, to treat them a little bit better.” says Mason. The two researchers hope that people will start to understand these livestocks deserve to be nicely treated, especially as we are using them for our milk products and meat.

1. What did Alan McElligott and Marianne Mason work together on?

A．The intelligence of goats.	B．Social abilities of animals.
C．Distinctive behavior of goats.	D．Animal welfare in HongKong.

2. What do we know about the experiment?

A．The 27 goats paid no attention to the voice all the time.

B．The majority of goats noticed the change of the emotions.

C．The speaker kept playing the positive version throughout the experiment.

D．The goats kept responding to the source of the sound in the initial stages.

3. Which is closest in meaning to the underlined words “move the needle” in paragraph 4?

A．Adjust a study goal.	B．Shift the public’s attention.
C．Make a positive change.	D．Change the original structure.

4. What is the last paragraph mainly about?

A．The background of the study.	B．The main purpose of the study.
C．The farmers’reactions to the study.	D．The wisdom of some goat farmers.

7 . You laugh out loud when a friend misses a step on the stairs, but soon you feel guilty of laughing at other’s clumsiness. You may ask yourself “Shouldn’t I feel empathetic (共情的) for the person involved?” Don’t worry. Your laughter is not provoked by lack of empathy. As a clinical psychologist, I’d like to shed light on different aspects of such a situation which can bring our usually well-meaning laughter.

The first of these ingredients is surprise. The unexpected situation surprises us and creates a departure from the predictable, from what we expected to see. This incongruous (不一致的) situation highlights our errors of prediction. Laughing at the situation is a way of resolving the incongruity by making a new and comic interpretation of what we witnessed.

Besides, we react according to how we interpret the person’s facial expression. A study explored this. Participants were asked to view 210 images representing three types of faces: faces expressing a puzzled look, faces expressing pain or anger, and people whose bodies were placed in awkward positions, without the face being visible.

At the end of the study, participants rated the images with puzzled faces as funnier than images in which the faces expressed pain or anger, and funnier than images in which bodies were shown in ridiculous positions but no facial expression was seen.

So when we perceive puzzlement in the facial expression of the victim of clumsiness, this information creates a context that makes us laugh. On the other hand, if we can read suffering or anger in the facial expression, we will be touched by the pain of the victim of the fall and be empathetic, which will prevent us from laughing.

Let’s forgive ourselves for laughing at comical situations involving other people’s clumsiness! Having learnt that they are not actually in danger and have not really hurt themselves, we aren’t laughing at the other person’s suffering.

1. What does the underlined word “provoked” in Paragraph 1 mean?

A．Determined.

B．Confirmed.

C．Caused.

D．Prevented.

2. What makes us laugh at other people’s clumsiness?

A．Unpredictability.

B．Visibility.

C．Dignity.

D．Identity.

3. What do we know about the study?

A．The faces expressing pain or anger were often ignored.

B．Awkward positions seemed funnier than puzzled expressions.

C．People laughed at others’ suffering in unfortunate situations.

D．Participants were asked to indicate how funny the images were.

4. What does the author think of laughing at people’s awkwardness?

A．Praiseworthy.

B．Unacceptable.

C．Forgivable.

D．Ridiculous.

8 . There’s a special bond between good parents and their children that is a beautiful thing to see.

They care about every________of their children’s life, from the tiniest issues to the biggest heartbreaks.

Elizabeth Bautista Boyd of Oklahoma is________to have such a father who still________and protects her, even though she is a grown-up 38-year-old working woman now. Boyd drove to work on a________winter morning, and the roads were frozen.________this, her dad did something amazing for her.

She________photos of her father’s act of kindness on a social networking website________by the touching words: “You guys…This is my dad. He’d driven to my company parking lot and waited for me to________, so he could salt the icy road from my________to the company’s front door. He did this to________that I, his 38-year-old daughter, wouldn’t________Oh! Love you, Daddy.”

The photos show her dad with a bag of salt,________spreading a path of salt across the icy road. This simple but________gesture of a father’s love for his daughter has________thousands of hearts online. In around 24 hours, it obtained over 70,000 reactions and over 76,000 shares.

Some________“What an amazing Daddy you have!” and one person wrote: “Definitely give him a huge hug, big enough for all of us.

1.

A．aspect

B．advantage

C．exception

D．weakness

2.

A．regretful

B．blessed

C．confident

D．supposed

3.

A．cares for

B．talks about

C．relies on

D．keeps from

4.

A．busy

B．sunny

C．cold

D．quiet

5.

A．Interested in

B．Unsatisfied with

C．Uncertain about

D．Aware of

6.

A．selected

B．found

C．developed

D．posted

7.

A．accompanied

B．simplified

C．clarified

D．confirmed

8.

A．work

B．arrive

C．drive

D．survive

9.

A．seat

B．vehicle

C．office

D．building

10.

A．prove

B．explain

C．ensure

D．announce

11.

A．forget

B．move

C．slip

D．stop

12.

A．nervously

B．casually

C．generously

D．carefully

13.

A．strange

B．sweet

C．rude

D．crazy

14.

A．touched

B．appreciated

C．witnessed

D．convinced

15.

A．promised

B．recalled

C．debated

D．commented

9 . Sometimes, we meet with situations that cause us to feel angry to the point we may want to erupt like a volcano or curse (咒骂) someone out.     1     Here are some replies online to the question about how to deal with anger.

Go for a swim, lift weights, and practice other forms of exercise!

Science suggests that hearing, seeing, or swimming causes our brain to produce neurochemicals that increase blood flow to the brain and heart. “    2     I like to lift weights. It completely takes the edge off. Heavy bag work is good for cardio and reducing anger. Yoga is great for both exercise and meditation,” wrote u/JackFunk.

Eat a healthier diet.

Proteins such as fish, tofu, and chicken, help us produce higher levels of dopamine and norepinephrine, which are chemicals in the brain that play a role in your mood, motivation, and concentration. “I found that some foods messed with my stomach.     3     Over time I have removed various foods from my diet, and it has really helped,”   u/JackFunk also wrote.

Write your feelings down.

Whether it’s quick sentences or journal entries, writing down how you feel is a great way to release negative emotions. “    4     Pour your heart out… and if you’re worried that someone else may read it later, you can burn it to release the energy,” wrote u/ChoiceFabulous.

    5    

“If you have trouble not getting angry when discussing something or trying to work through a problem with someone, always imagine the conversation is being videotaped. If you keep that in the back of your mind, you will always think about what you say, and it could help keep your mind from the anger,” wrote u/therealtidbits.

A．For me, nothing is better than exercise.

B．Whenever I can’t help getting angry, I read.

C．Pretend that when you get angry people are watching.

D．Whenever I can’t exercise or burn out the feelings, I write.

E．Anyway, there are always better ways to handle when angry.

F．They then messed with my head, which brought out the anger.

G．Pretend there is a camera before you and be mindful of what you say.

10 . Steps to happiness

Life is full of happiness and sadness. The following skills can help improve your state of happiness.

Be kind to yourself

It is not always easy as we are often not confident. But those little troubles, such as when we make a mistake, and when we judge ourselves as “stupid” or such like, can actually have quite an impact on our mental well-being.     1    

Find your happiness

For some people, watching 90 minutes of man running around and kicking a ball brings great joy and passion.     2     We are all different, and knowing what bring you peace and happiness helps. Explore more and find what you really like.

Move

    3     Humans weren’t designed to sit all day long. Apart from getting fat, and increasing the risk of diseases, sitting all day leads to boredom. And the more you sit doing nothing, the worse it gets. So, make a start now and take a walk.

Improve your relationships

We all need others.     4     Again, humans are social creatures, so getting out to see friends is important, even taking time to talk to those you live with is important. Put down your device and actually have a chat. It can really boost your mood.

Eat properly

Eat the right foods and you’ll feel an obvious change in your attitude and mental well-being in a few weeks.     5     Avoid lots of processed food.

A few simple steps can improve your mental status. Give it a try, a few minor changes can make all the difference to your happiness.

A．Challenge yourself.

B．Get up and walk, or go jogging.

C．It’s hard to be an island, entire of itself.

D．Being kind to others is also important.

E．Instead of being negative on yourself, try being positive.

F．For others, this is similar to a trip to the dentist for root treatment.

G．Aim for a well-balanced diet and one that is as close to nature as possible.